Thursday, 11 October 2018

50th Birthday Gifts

My birthday was at the beginning of September and I received some really lovely gifts. In fact, I received one or two belated gifts too, one of which was from my lovely blog friend, Susan. She lives a very long way away over in Australia, though I have met her a few times when she's been over in the UK. She blogs at Granny Smith's Quilting.

A parcel arrived towards the end of September and as I hadn't ordered anything, I wondered what it could be. There was a card enclosed with the gift which had the most lovely words.

Oh my word, I wasn't expecting what I found inside the wrapping, the most wonderful portrait of Archie which has been painted on slate. Isn't it fabulous? And unusual too.

It was painted by one of Susan's friends, Kate. You can find her website here. Kate really has got such a good likeness of Archie in the painting, right down to the little brown patch on his cheek. It deserves pride of place so I must find the most perfect place to hang it. Thank you, Susan, it's such a lovely, and unusual, gift.

She knows me so well as I love everything in this package. Beautiful Craft House Magic yarn in the Time After Time colourway, Regia Pairfect yarn which I've been wanting to try for ages, and Wrapture wool wash which has a gorgeous scent, my woolens will smell fabulous. She also bought me a project bible and WIP cards, which will come in very handy as I usually jot things down on bits of paper and end up losing them. I'm a bit of a stationery geek so these are right up my street. I've got to admit that the Toffifees which were also in the parcel have long gone. Yum yum!

Thank you so much, Maggie, such a thoughtful gift, I shall enjoy using everything.

Lisa, my oldest blog friend who blogs at Jumble and Jelly, celebrated her 50th birthday just six weeks before I celebrated mine. She knows I love my garden so she bought me a National Garden gift card so that I can choose something myself.

Isn't that hedgehog the cutest? Thank you, Lisa. I think I'll buy a lovely plant which will remind me of our friendship whenever I look at it. I'm enjoying doing a bit of research to find something I really love.

I'm so lucky to have made such fabulous friends through this wonderful world of blogging.

Many happy returns for the day :) You got some lovely gifts. I especially love the slate painting of Archie :) I have 2 canvas pictures of our old dogs Taffy and Harlow. I still miss them, they were great little characters. Enjoy your day :)

Oh wow Jo all your gifts are wonderful. I especially like the portrait of Archie and will definitely have to hang in pride of place. We had portraits done of the four boys which is lovely especially now that Monty is no longer with us. I still can't believe he's gone and still tell people I have four cavaliers.

It's such a sad time when we lose one of our precious friends and the grief can last a long time. The portrait of Monty will be even more special now. I'm thrilled with Archie's portrait, it's so like him.

Glad you liked everything Jo, I enjoyed choosing gifts for you :-)I love the drawing of Archie that Susan sent you, what a great personalized gift and great idea to use your garden voucher to buy a special plant. Enjoy being 50!

Wishing you a very belated Happy Birthday!Blogging does bring some lovely people into your life. And how thoughtful and kind they are!I was given some garden vouchers for my birthday too, I'm going to buy some large shrubs, as I usually buy small ones and wait for them to grow.xx

Hi Jo - I'm kate (Sue's friend) - just wanted to say thank you for such lovely words about Archie's painting. I should have said something sooner but I've rather busy with our annual art festival. Today I am catching up with all my blog comments :)Glad you like the slate x

About Me

Thank you for visiting. I'm Jo, fifty and happily married with two grown up children and a dog called Archie. Take a peek Through The Keyhole into my home on the outskirts of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Here you'll see a little of what I get up to on my crafty adventures as well as snippets of family life. I hope you enjoy reading along.